In the aftermath of World War II, famed photojournalist (and co-founder of the Magnum Photos agency) David “Chim” Seymour was commissioned by UNESCO to document the living conditions of children across a devastated Europe. The resulting images formed Children of Europe, a landmark 1949 publication that raised international awareness of postwar displacement and humanitarian need.
This exhibition at The Image Centre in Toronto brings together original prints and rare archival material from the centre’s collection, revealing Chim’s compassionate lens and commitment to social documentation.
Capturing both hardship and resilience, this much-celebrated series reveals the lives of children in Austria, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Poland—offering a powerful testament to survival and recovery in a time of profound global upheaval.
The Image Centre exhibition page, here. Exhibition is on through April 4, 2026
A feature on the exhibition in The Globe and Mail (archive copy here)
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The challenge is to document, unflinchingly yet with respect, not to tip over into voyeurism. You remark on Seymour’s “compassion,” and I agree, and that is what keeps these photos on the right side of the line. Walker Evans pulled off the same very difficult feat, in his photos that accompanied James Agee’s text for “Now Let Us Praise Famous Men.”
That is such a great reference to Now Let Us Praise . . . And also it made me think of probably the most famous piece of activist, so-called compassionate photography: Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, although I have often thought that one was a bit usurious. Nevertheless, after Lange’s shot was on the front of every paper in America, the government sent 20,000 pounds of food to the campsite where the pic was taken. I have always had such mixed feelings about Migrant Mother.
I used to work in international development, and I’d get queasy about the intrusive, dignity-shredding photography some agencies allowed themselves, justified as a strategy to prompt the largest ppossible donations…
The final picture with the boy and the leg crutch is very arresting. People have forgotten.
Yes they have forgotten and it’s exhibitions like this that keep us connected to the past without beating us over the head. I am a huge fan of Toronto’s Image Centre, which is a centrifugal force in Canada for such things.